You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, my lurker friend!

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, an unparalleled Subaru community full of the greatest Subaru gurus and modders on the planet! We offer technical information and discussion about all things Subaru, the best and most popular all wheel drive vehicles ever created.

We offer all this information for free to everyone, even lurkers like you! All we ask in return is that you sign up and give back some of what you get out - without our awesome registered users none of this would be possible! Plus, you get way more great stuff as a member! Lurk to lose, participate to WIN*!

Say hello and join the conversation

Subscribe to topics and forums to get automatic updates

Get your own profile and make new friends

Classifieds with all sorts of Subaru goodies

Photo hosting in our gallery

Meet other cool people with cool cars

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Make your life more fulfilling and join today! You and your Subaru won't regret it, we guarantee** it.

* The joy of participation and being generally awesome constitutes winning** Not an actual guarantee, but seriously, you probably won't regret it!

Usually I can drive long distances at a nice speed and there are no problems.

Sometimes going up a steep grade or winding it out in a low gear sends the temp gauge up very close to redline. Just last weekend, I was driving home from a place about five miles down the road, and a thousand feet down in elevation. I was sort of cruising the winding road. I probably never took it above 3rd gear, and likely not higher than 3000rpms. It almost redlined in the few minutes getting from there to here.

I recently replaced the thermostat, and the last time a mechanic was involved, he checked the radiator and found no leaks/problems.

What should I be looking for? Water pump? Why is this thing getting so hot?

It sounds like you could use a new radiator. Even though your mechanic thought is was fine, it's probably has too may rows plugged up to be effective when the engine running higher rpms especially if yours is a turbo model. It's not easy to look down inside one of these radiators and see the condition of the internals.

I'd like to bring this thread back to life, if I could... I don't know much about radiators, so I'm looking for some advice about where to go with this one...

Haven't looked into it yet, but since we have two soobs around here, I guess I could swap radiators without too much work and see if that is indeed the problem. Then the one that ends up with the bad radiator can get the new one...

But...

Is a new one necessary? Can radiators be repaired, and is this what a "rod-out" is? Are Junk Yard radiators worth the effort (how would you know a good one from a bad one)? I've only gotten one price so far on a new one and it's $250-ish.

i just did mine, take it to the right guys and they will as you say "rod it out" for around $50 and paint it up all pretty a and its as good as new. if yuor not a turbo model go get a turbo radiator from the junk yard and get it rebuilt. its a larger 2 core radiator instead of 1core. my 85gl wagon now runs at 1/3 temp gage no matter what i throw at it.

You can do a quick and dirty check of your radiator by running the engine up to normal operatig temps, and then placing your hand along the radiator core; pretty easy to do if no A/C, more of a challenge if you do have A/C. You are looking for cold regions on the radiator. Since the tubes run horizontally, these show up as horizontal cold stripes. Check the radiator top to bottom.

Another option is to have a radiator shop do a flow test on your out-of-car radiator.

Rodding the radiator is not very often an option these days. If you have a composite radiator (plastic tanks and metal core), I have been told that the replacement metal crimps the hold the tanks on cost around $80 (may be wrong or out of date). Aluminum cores can lose there ability to transfer heat even without plugging. And "rodding" an older radiator often causes leaks to occur, which are not really fixable in an aluminum radiator and sometimes like "chasing a rat down a hole" with copper radiators.

Since it seems that a major cause of dead Subaru engines is overheating, it might be not-too-expensive insurance to get a new radiator.

If the radiator truly is your problem, then you can easily find one online for cheap... I've found them for under $60... but I needed it before the shipping would get it here so I had to purchase one locally...